CONVICTED IN THE 1987 KILLING OF HIS SECOND WIFE, MURDERER HAS NOW BEEN CONVICTED IN THE 1975 SLAYING OF HIS FIRST WIFE

The Vigo County, Indiana Sheriff's Office was able to reopen the cold case with the assistance of the TV show “Cold Justice”

By Tim Evans | Indy Star | February 12, 2016

A Terre Haute man who served 25 years for the murder of his second wife now has been convicted of killing his first wife.

A 12-person jury found Earl Taylor guilty Friday of first-degree murder in the 1975 slaying of Kathy Taylor.

He was arrested after the Vigo County Sheriff's Office reopened the investigation into the death of Kathy Taylor with the assistance from "Cold Justice," a TNT television show that looks into unsolved criminal cases.

Earl Taylor, a former insurance agent, had taken out several large policies on both wives — and a former co-worker had warned the two women that their lives could be in danger.

In 2014, Vigo County Chief Deputy Clark Cottom told IndyStar the television show's involvement brought outside expertise, fresh eyes, and access to technology that helped detectives, who worked for months examining evidence and tracking down witnesses from nearly 40 years ago.

"They were able to get lab testing done next to instantly that normally takes us months to get results," Cottom said.

Kathy Taylor, who was 23 at the time of her slaying, was found dead April 2, 1975. Earl Taylor, then 22, told police he had come home and found his wife dead in the bathtub of their house.

A forensic pathologist testified Kathy Taylor drowned after being held face-down in a bathtub in the couple’s home, but the defense argued she died of electrocution from a clock radio.

Cottom said detectives learned Earl Taylor removed his wife's body from the tub but did not immediately contact authorities. Instead, he called his father, who later reported the death to the sheriff.

Earl Taylor told deputies at the time that his wife had been home alone taking a bath when an electronic clock radio apparently fell into the tub. But, according to Cottom, "during the investigation detectives noticed that the power cord on the clock radio appeared to have been changed to extend the length."

"The investigation revealed the factory cord length would not have allowed the radio to fall into the bathtub."

A detective who worked on the case also recalled Taylor had "offered a methodical minute by minute alibi of his whereabouts on April 2, 1975," Cottom reported, "an alibi that detectives later learned was not completely forthcoming."

Earl Taylor was convicted in 1988 of killing his second wife, Mindy, whose body was recovered in 1987 from her car in a pond. He was released from prison in January 2014 and re-arrested the following July.